Goodbye Jenny
by NCISgirl1527
Summary: This is a story that takes place right before the end of Judgment day part two. It is about Jenny's funeral and the team remembering her and what happens immediately afterward.
1. The end

Jenny is one of my favorite characters and she really doesn't get a funeral. Kate gets a funeral with a small clip of what each team member remembers about her. So this is Jenny's funeral and it will have multiple chapters (my friend threatened to hurt me if I didn't post a multi-chapter story). I hope that you like it and review it.

Disclaimer: Yea I don't own any of the NCIS characters

Spoilers: Judgment Day and I think that is about it.

Chapter one—The end

All was quiet in the bullpen when Gibbs walked in. McGee was fiddling aimlessly with his mouse to the point where the left button was falling off. Tony was sitting at his desk staring vaguely into space. Space happened to be Ziva's face, but for once she was not paying any attention to him. Her eyes were still slightly red just as they had been when she returned from California. Whether she said it or not she blamed herself for Jenny's death, just as Tony did.

He sighed. The two of them had been Jenny's bodyguards in California. She had been attending the funeral of the other member of the team they were on in Paris. Jenny had realized they had been compromised in Paris and knew they would come for Gibbs and herself. She gave Tony and Ziva the day off and gone to what she must have known was her death. The pair of them had arrived at the scene of the firefight, which claimed her life, only minutes after it happened. There they had found her body among those of the attackers.

He looked at his two agents again. He knew it was not there fault but a small part of him wanted to blame them. It was so much easier then trying to blame someone else because if someone else was to blame it was unquestionably him. He had verified Jenny's kill in Paris nine years ago knowing very well that the 'victim' was still very much alive. Now that victim had come back and taken the life of their partner and of Jenny before he took her down. He knew the conversation they would have had if Jenny knew what he was thinking.

_Jethro, I gave them the day off they were following orders. _

Yes, Jenny but they were given an order to protect you.

_And since when do your orders trump mine? _

Since yours would put you in danger.

_If I had kept them with me I would have just cost one or both of them their lives. _

No you wouldn't have. It would have been a fair fight and you all would be fine.

_We would not have and you know it. _

You took down all four of them by yourself and Ziva can out shoot you.

_Thanks for that. _

She can.

_I know, but what if she had gotten hit? Tony would then be distracted and try to help her. The shooter would have taken him down next and then I would be an easy target. _

You don't know that it would have happened that way.

You don't know it wouldn't have and if it had it would have cost two good agents their lives. Jethro I was dying before I walked in to that café. I was not going to risk their lives for mine.

It is there job to risk their lives for this agency.

For this agency? Yes. For off the books mission that was only relevant because we wanted to get the hell out of Paris nine years ago? No. This was a personal mission and I was not going to jeopardize them for that.

That never stopped you before when you had Tony on La Grenouille's tail.

I never meant for Tony to be put in any danger.

You practically had him stalking an international arms dealer, and, as if that was not bad enough, you had Tony dating his daughter.

_How would that put him in danger?_

What? The stalking or the dating?

The dating, I realize that stalking an arms dealer is dangerous. Thank you very much.

Well let me put it this way. Say we had a daughter (at this point she would have glared at him) and Tony wanted to date her. How long would that last?

_Until you shot him, and what is this about us having a daughter?_

Totally fiction used for the benefit of the hypothetical situation. (She would raise her eyebrow) Really. (They would stand in silence for a while.) I'm sorry Jen.

What's this with the apology? I thought apologizing was a signed of weakness.

Not among friends, Jen, never among friends.

Then forgive Tony and Ziva for something they did not do. (And so the conversation would come full circle)

That is completely different, Jen.

No, it isn't. Jethro they are already beating themselves up over it they don't need your help. I am gone Jethro. Forgive and Move on. Our team needs a leader.

**Our** team?

You know I was always on your side, your team. You know that.

Yes. I know.

Good.

He could almost she her face and then she was gone and he was staring at his three agents. Jenny was right. Tony and Ziva had been following orders and he needed to move on. There was a difference between forgiving and forgetting, but he new that this was the end of a chapter in the team's life, just as Kate's death had been. They would endure. They had always endured.

He walked into the bullpen and went over to Tony's desk. "It is not you fault Dinozzo. What is done is done. Move on." He turned around, "That goes for you too, David." Ziva looked up and the look in Gibbs eyes told her that, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, he knew she blamed herself for Jenny's death. He turned to McGee's desk and gently removed the mouse from his hand so that McGee would not destroy it. Then Gibbs went and sat down at his desk. There was silence again.

It was quite for nearly an hour until Ducky came up in the elevator. Abby was with him and they were both dressed in black just as the rest of the team was. "It is time, Jethro"

Gibbs rose from his chair and walked over to Ducky who looked around. The team was different. Ziva had been crying, Tony was silent, and McGee was just out of it.

Abby walked away from Ducky and Gibbs and over to McGee's desk. "Come on," she said gently taking his hand. He rose and followed her back to the group. Ziva to had stood up and walked over to Tony's desk. She put her hand on top of his on the desk. He looked up at her, and nodded. Then together the group walked to the elevator.

Gibbs drove to the funeral in silence. By glancing in the rearview mirror he could see the rest of the team none of whom said a word. Ducky rode beside him looking out the window. In the middle seats Abby was leaning her forehead against the window of the car and McGee was watching her. As Gibbs watched McGee reached over and took her hand and she leaned closer to him. This gave Gibbs a clear view of the two people in the back seats.

Tony had his arm around Ziva's shoulders. Her head was resting on his shoulder and his head was resting on hers. Two weeks ago he would have been mad at the two of them for breaking rule twelve: never date a coworker, but for now he would leave them alone. Jenny had died without him being able to tell her how much she meant to him.

All too soon they reached the cemetery. As they all climbed out of the car their eyes were drawn to the casket. Jenny was in there Ziva thought, probably in some impractical dress like the one she had worn to the Marine Birthday Ball a few years ago. Jenny would have been happier in pants and a collared shirt like she had worn while they were in Eastern Europe. This brought a small smile to Ziva's lips. It was first time she had smiled since they had come home from California. Gibbs was right they needed to accept that Jenny was gone and not coming back. They needed to move on. Together the six of the moved toward the coffin.

So there is the first chapter. I would like at least five reviews before I post again. I hope you liked it. By the way, to the people who read 'Legend part two and a half' that this one is better edited. Thanks and review.


	2. McGee

**So I know I said I would not post again until I got five reviews, but I like posting. I also like reviews and I got two for the last chapter. Let's see if I can get three for this one. Please. I hope you like it. **

Chapter Two—McGee

"_Other than being you sister is there any evidentiary reason she should not be charged"_

"_But she is my sister director if Sarah lashes out at someone she does it with her mouth or a pen not a knife"_

"I hope you have some evidence other that brotherly love agent McGee."

…

"Your actions or should I say in actions did nothing to her you sister but they did impugn the integrity of this agency"

"Sorry for not putting the integrity of NCIS above my sister it will not happen again"

McGee smiled as he walked up to Jenny's coffin. He had very little contact with the Director of NCIS but when he did she was always very director-like. He had never met the Jenny that Gibbs had known. He had never had the friendship with her that Tony and Ziva had. She had always been Director Sheppard. Even in his own mind it felt strange to call her Jenny.

He felt a little awkward standing there among the mourning. He knew that out of all the people at the funeral he was the least sad about Jenny's passing. It wasn't that he did not like her it was just that he had spoken to her directly about twenty times in three years. Gibbs had known her for nine years and the two had been lovers in Paris. Speaking of awkward thinking of the bosses being lovers was at the top of the list.

Tony and Jenny had grown close during his undercover mission. She was a cross of mother and friend for Tony. The same thing went for Ziva. Jenny had been the only friend Ziva had when she first came to NCIS and he meant only. They had worked together all over the world or at least Europe and the Middle East.

Ducky had worked with Gibbs and Jenny years ago and had obviously been close friends. Even Abby was closer to Jenny then him. To Abby she was again half a mother and half a friend. It made McGee feel a little left out.

It wasn't a question of loyalties. It never had been. He knew that Jenny would have given her life to save his without a second thought if it had come to that. He knew that he could have gone to her with any problem just like Tony and Ziva and she would have accepted him. It just had never seemed right. Maybe it was because, unlike Tony and Ziva, the family he had come from was whole and undivided. Actually compared to theirs, his was just about perfect. He had a sibling, while Tony was an only child, and he had not had to shoot that sibling or watch them die like Ziva. Both his mother had died of old age, unlike both of their mothers, and his father cared about him, unlike their fathers.

He did not dislike Jenny he just did not need to have her there in the way that Tony, Ziva, and Gibbs did. He looked around him at Jenny's family. Her father had died when she was about twenty and she had never talked about her mother. Jenny had never married and never had any kids. She had died without any blood relatives, as Tony had pointed out at least fifty times since his return to Washington.

Whatever Tony had said, when McGee looked around and saw Jenny's family. Family wasn't just who you share blood with; it is who you love and who loves you. Jenny was the mother of the NCIS family. She would never be forgotten.

He laid his rose on the coffin, "Good-bye, Jenny."

**This is kind of a short chapter but I could only write so much about McGee and Jenny as they only have about five conversations in the entire three years she is there. Please review. I will stop pestering you if you do it. Promise. Thanks.**


	3. Abby

**Here is the third chapter. I know I have not updated in like a million years but I am working on a couple other stories. If you want me to give you more chapters then review and it might convince me.**

**Disclaimer: I had it but flying monkeys stole it**

**Spoilers: Judgment Day**

Chapter Three—Abby

"The kids don't like it when mommy and daddy fight."

Abby walked slowly up to the coffin, and suddenly she could not see the world around her anymore. She saw Jenny and Gibbs in her lab. They were about to argue over Jenny sending Tony home without telling Gibbs, but Abby took over both sides of the argument.

I did not realize I needed to ask you permission to handle my own personnel, Agent Gibbs.

Your personal?

Yes last time I checked it said director on my door not yours.

Then Abby had returned to herself and told them that the kids did not like it when mommy and daddy fought. She had not exactly meant to say it like that to their faces but it was true. NCIS was so much like a family. Gibbs had been the father with three children then Jenny had come. She was the mother and had one child.

For a few years they had been a happy family. That had made it possible for Abby to over-come losing Kate, who was Gibbs fourth child. Now Jenny was gone and she was never coming back. She had died alone without Tony and Ziva there to protect her and that had been their job, but she was not mad at them. She had been when they first came back from California, but she wasn't anymore. How could she be? Tony and Ziva had both been closer to Jenny than she had been and both of them were fairly miserable. She was just glad they had come back alive, unlike Jenny.

She shook head she did not want to think of Jenny dead. She had not actually seen the body but she had done forensic work on the shirt Jenny had been wearing. The shirt had once been blue but it now was covered in blood, Jenny's blood. That had been bad enough.

It was just like when Kate died and Abby had done the weapons analysis on the casings that Ari had used. She felt a surge of anger as she thought of Ziva's brother. He had killed Kate. On the other hand his sister had shot him a few weeks later. He had been dead as they buried Kate, just as the mastermind behind Jenny's death was now dead. Mike Franks had shot her and Gibbs then burned Jenny's townhouse down to cover her death.

'No' Abby told herself 'stop thinking about Jenny's death.' She thought back to all the happy times that she and Jenny had shared. She remembered the time Jenny had sent Tony home without asking Gibbs. Jenny had come to help Abby in her lab since Gibbs was low on agents. It was one of the times when she realized how much like a mother Jenny was because they had a long discussion about Abby's current boyfriend.

Her mind flashed over another memory of Jenny. Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, McGee, and Ducky had been trapped on a ship with, what they had believed to be, a deathly disease. They had a video feed to Abby's lab and could communicate with the Abby and Jenny. Abby had been worried scared about what would happen to them and Jenny had comforted her then blackmailed/ass-kicked the Navy into telling her what the heck was going on.

Jenny was not one to stand back while someone was in danger especially when it was someone on Gibbs team. When Tony' car had been blown up Jenny was upset, because she thought he had died on her mission.

Abby sighed. She would never see Jenny again. She would never see her laugh or see her pain when Gibbs girlfriend came to the office. The team as a whole was going to miss Jenny that was obvious. A single tear ran down her cheek.

She laid her rose on the coffin, "Good-bye Jenny."

_**Was it worth waiting for? Do you want more? (that is sort of rhetorical because I am finishing either way. I just don't know how long it will take me. Please review. Oh yea, hypothetical cookie to anyone who can place the episode that the quote is from.**_


	4. Ducky

**Here is the fourth chapter of Good-bye Jenny. This story is not as popular as some of my others but I really appreciate everyone who has reviewed it so far. So here are Ducky's thoughts. **

Chapter Four—Ducky

She was dieing Jethro. She knew the deterioration would have been rapid, debilitating pain, loss of motor skills. As difficult as this is to say, this may have been more merciful.

Ducky walked towards his old friends coffin and sighed. He had been prepared for this day. Well not so much prepared as he was expecting it. He had known that he was losing her from the time she asked him to run the test. He took some comfort in the fact that she had died on her terms. As horrible as it was to say this was the best way for her to die.

Jenny had always had her own way to do things and many times it had gotten her into trouble. He remembered when he had asked for her help after he pushed the cop off the cliff. Any other agent would have just acted as a witness, but not Jenny. She stole a boat and helped him and Gibbs flee the country, because of course Jenny was not just another agent.

Jenny did her job as well as any other agent before her but her methods would often raise questions within the agency. She had pushed a lot of people's buttons but she had also become the first women director of a federal agency. Ducky had seen a few directors come and go in his time with the agency, but Jenny was defiantly the best.

She cared about her people and would do anything to bring them home safe. He had noticed that when the team had been sent out to investigate a death on the classified ship the Chimera, a classified navy ship. The team had been at high risk and Jenny had pretty much bullied the man in charge until he gave her the information that she wanted.

As much as he had liked Jenny as a director she had made an even better field agent. She could get agencies to cooperate with them, but she was also quite good at hacking into systems. That was a side of her that very few people had seen, only those who had worked with her in the field. That would have been Gibbs and Ziva, both of whom had been Jenny's partners.

Ducky glanced behind him at Gibbs, Ziva, and Tony who were waiting in silence. She had trusted them with her life, and yet she had not told any of them about her illness. Most people would have wondered why, but Ducky knew the Jenny hated to admit weaknesses. She would have found it unendurable to lie in bed and wait for death to come and claim her for its own. So she was waiting for a situation to come up where she could fix something, possibly at the cost of her life.

That was why she had let Tony and Ziva off that day. She had discovered they had been compromised in Paris, so she had gotten back-up, gone to the diner, and waited for men to catch up to her. She had gone down in the battle but so had her opponents, and she had gone down protecting Gibbs.

Ducky had watched them carefully while Jenny was director, and there was barely a hint of their previous relationship. You could only see that small hint of sadness every time she had seen Gibbs with another woman.

Ducky shook his head sadly as he thought of her disease. She was too young to die that way. It was an unidentified disease that caused rapid, painful deterioration. That was not Jenny's style, going down in a firefight was. He looked down at the oak box that hid his friend's body.

He laid his rose on the coffin, "Good-bye, Jenny."

I know that Ducky calls her Jennifer but that screws up the repetition so oh well. The chapters after this should be longer. So what episode is this quote from? The last on was from Twisted Sister and the winner of the hypothetical cookie is Emeilia-Rose. A round of applause. 


	5. Tony

**Tony's turn to say good-bye. This one is longer than the others. It also has my favorite quote. **

**Spoilers: Judgment Day and Grace Period.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Never has been. Never will be.**

Chapter Five—Tony

It could have been us every damn day, and some days it has been.

If you want to worry about something, worry about tomorrow.

Tony walked toward the coffin and thought back to they day before Paula Cassidy died. Gibbs had told him that it should have been them on the weekend shift, not Paula's team. Tony had asked Gibbs if is should have been them and Gibbs had told him that some days it had been them and other day it would be them. Well, Gibbs was right. It had been Kate and now it was Jenny. Today it was them tomorrow it would be someone else.

Someone looking at the team from an objective point of view would probably say that Kate and Jenny's deaths were similar, but they are not. Kate's death had been unexpected. She had died quickly and painlessly. The entire team had been there to catch the…criminal. Ziva had been there to help them catch Ari and move on. Kate had died with Gibbs on one side of her and Tony on the other.

Jenny had had months to prepare for her death even if she did not know how it would come. Jenny had been shot several times and had probably bled out lying alone on the floor. Only Gibbs had been there to catch the person behind it. Well, the rest of the team had been there but Gibbs would not let them help. He had no help and when it was over there was no one left to help them move on. The most important difference was that Jenny had died completely alone. The last thing she would have seen was her attackers and the pools of blood on the floor.

Tony shivered. That was all his fault. She should not have died alone. He and Ziva should have been there to keep her alive and protect her. That was their job, and the entire point of him and Ziva coming to LA. Ziva had wanted to find Jenny, but he had said no. Had he listened to her a half an hour before he did, Jenny would not be dead.

They had arrived just minutes after Jenny's final battle, and by then it was to late to do anything for Jenny. He remembered those five minutes as if they were yesterday not the week before. He and Ziva had walked into the bar and found four men on the ground dead. He had checked all of them for a pulse before looking at Ziva. Her face was no longer emotionless, but it was twisted in pain and disbelief. He had bent down and checked Jenny for a pulse. There had not been one, but just then her phone rang. It was Gibbs.

Tony knew that Jenny and Gibbs went back to before they had known anyone on the team with the exception of Ducky. They had been lovers in Paris and more than one person that the two had acted like a married couple had pointed it out. Tony remembered how Jenny had sort of been like a mother to him. At least she had given him advice on girls, and that was a mother thing to do.

The entire NCIS team was close to each other, and more of a family than his had ever been. Jenny and Gibbs were the parents, Ducky was the grandfather, and everyone else were the kids. When he had let Jenny died he had broken those bonds. He had destroyed something special, and he would not soon forget the look on Ziva's face when she had seen Jenny's body. The mingled grief and disbelief was almost the same as when he had talked about Jeanne.

Tony sighed. He had hated Jenny for giving him that mission. It had screwed up everything with the team: his relationship with Ziva, Gibbs trust in him, all of it. He had lied to them and he regretted it but it had been a mission and he could not afford for it to be compromised. More than once he had given Jenny a piece of his mind about that mission. He regretted that now. It had not been her instructions to fall in love. It had been a mission to get a dangerous arms dealer off the street. She had been doing here job.

Maybe he was blaming her because he did not want to blame himself. Maybe he was blaming her because he needed someone to blame and she was the obvious candidate. Either way he had been blaming her for something that was not her fault, and she had never once told him off for it. She had ever defended him by talking to Jeanne and getting her to confess to making up the story about Tony shooting the frog.

He could forgive her for that now, and he could almost here her voice in his head. 'DiNozzo, I don't care what you think of me. This is not you're fault. Forgive yourself. I was dieing anyway.' Ducky had told them all after the fact that their director had been dieing of a incurable disease. Tony wished Jenny would have told him and Ziva that straight off, but that was not something Jenny would do. Much like her old partners, Jenny hated exposing weakness. That was part of what made her such a good director. She was determined, she was strong, and once she had a mission, she was immovable. He looked down at Jenny's coffin.

He laid his rose on the coffin, "Good-bye, Jenny."

_**Good? Bad? Review **__****__**. Where is the quote from?**_

_**Last chapter's winners of the hypothetical cookie(s) were:**_

_**TomorrowNeverCame**_

_**Emeilia-Rose (your second cookie **__****__** )**_

_**BAMACRUSH**_

_**With the answer of Judgment Day Part Two. Congrats. **_


	6. Ziva

**Ziva's turn to say good-bye. I think this is an okay chapter. Not my favorite but… you read it and telll me.**

**Spoilers: Judgment Day**

**Disclaimer: mine just like CSI, CSI New York, Bone, and In Plain Sight.**

Chapter Six—Ziva

Don't doubt your judgment, Ziva, because the minute you do it is isn't almost anymore.

Gibbs had told her not to doubt her judgment. He had told her that, the minute she did it would not be almost anymore. At the time she had been upset about nearly dieing when killing a serial killer. Now, she had doubted her judgment again, but this time: it was not almost anymore. This time she had screwed up and her friend had paid the price.

Jenny had given them the day off, but Ziva had sensed that something was amiss. She had wanted to stay near base, but Tony had convinced her to leave. In a way it did not make a difference, Jenny would not have called them in for back up. She died alone in that bar, and Tony and Ziva had arrived just a little to late to do anything for their friend.

Every time Ziva closed her eyes she saw Jenny's body, surrounded by blood, pale and unmoving on the floor. She was not sure that it was a picture she would ever be able to erase from her mind. Seeing Jenny's body broken like that was hard, but so was the fact that Tony blamed himself alone for Jenny's death. That was just wrong. Jenny would not have wanted either one of them to blame themselves.

Jenny's never wanted anyone to blame themselves, but she always had a tendency to blame herself for everything. For a long time Ziva had wondered why that was, but now she finally understood. After that Paris mission where she had not been able to shoot her target, she was more understanding. Well, Ziva could not really judge that because she had not known Jenny before Paris but she had heard stories.

Actually, Ziva knew more about Paris than she would like Gibbs to know she knew. Jenny had told her a lot of things about the mission, but more about Gibbs. It had helped pass the time while they were locked in the prison cell in Cairo. That had been one of the worst missions that they had worked together.

She and Jenny were supposed to observe the terrorists, but they had been compromised. It was not much of a fight because they were out numbered ten to one, so she and Jenny had been put in a cell for several weeks. Their jailers had then attempted to torture Jenny, but Ziva had pointed out that as the daughter of the Director of Mossad it was her they wanted not Jenny. Jenny later classified that as saving her life. Ziva defined it more as intervention at the right time put with the right background, but did not argue.

That was not the only case she and Jenny had worked together. The time they had spent in Eastern Europe had been fun. She remembered the first time Jenny had let her drive. For the first five minutes Jenny had been holding on for dear life, but after a while she relaxed and enjoyed the ride. Jenny was the only person who ever got used to her driving.

There was also a mission where Jenny completely lost it and abandoned the mission in progress. That particular mission had ended with Ziva lying in a hospital some where in Germany and Jenny sitting next to the hospital bed and cursing the fact that she had left. Ziva had never figured out what it was about but she had a sneaking suspicion that it had involved Gibbs.

After that, Jenny had always been there. She had been supportive all through the entire mess with Ari. Then when it was over, Jenny had fought for Ziva's job at NCIS, because she knew Ziva did not want to go back to Israel. Ziva sighed, she had never thanked Jenny for everything she had done.

Jenny had not been mad at Ziva when she accidentally killed that suspect, which had resulted in Jenny's kidnapping. Jenny had even over-ruled Gibbs to prove Ziva was innocent. Less than six months later, Ziva had been wanted for murder again. This time she was being framed by the Iranians, but either way, it had nearly cost Jenny her job.

Ziva remembered the time Abby had to go to court. Jenny, Abby, and herself had been having a fashion discussion about what Abby should wear. Tony had come in and told Ziva that Gibbs needed her so she had left. On the way down he had told her they would have been braiding each other's hair soon.

Ziva smiled. These were the memories she wanted to keep of Jenny: the ones where they were laughing, and not the ones where Jenny was broken and bleeding. Jenny may have left the team in actually physical presence, but much like Kate, she would never truly leave. A small smile curled Ziva's lips as she walked forward.

She laid her rose on the coffin, "Good-bye, Jenny."

_**So how was it? Please review and remember to tell me where the quote is from. **_

_**Next chapter: Gibbs (which means lots of Jibbs)**_

_**Chapter 8: Conclusion**_

_**Cookie Winners:**_

_**Emeilia-Rose (Number 3 cookie)**_

_**BAMACRUSH (number 2 cookie)**_

_**TomorrowNeverCame (number 2 cookie)**_

_**Answer:**_

_**Grace Period. I love that quote.**_


	7. Gibbs

**This is the second to last chapter and the last chapter of memories. Gibbs remembers Jenny. It is also your last chance at a hypothetical cookie.**

**Spoilers: Same old Same old**

**Disclaimer: I bought it on Ebay.**

Chapter Seven—Gibbs

It's been a long time. Us, together, outside of the office

Paris, if you don't count hospitals and car chases.

***

Once upon a time I would have asked you to stay and I wouldn't have taken no for an answer.

No.

What happened, Jethro?

You made a choice.

I had to do what was best for me. I still do.

Gibbs remembered that day six months ago when he had gone over to Jenny's house. It was the first time they had been outside the office together in nine years, as she had pointed out. Well, nine years unless they counted the time she had helped him try and catch Ari, or the time she had visited him in the hospital after he had been blown up.

She had always been there for him, and he had never been there for her. She had died protecting him, protecting him from what he saw as his own mistake. That particular operation in Paris where he had verified a kill he knew she didn't make. She had died for that.

It was very little comfort to him to know that she had been dieing before she went into that bar. It was hard to think of Jenny as anything less than invincible, even thought he knew she wasn't. It was even harder to think of her dieing of some unknown disease that would cause her immense pain and suffering. Ducky was right. Jenny's death had been on her terms not the terms of the world. She had always lived on her own terms, and now she had died by them.

There was another thing that was bugging him about Jenny's disease. Why hadn't she told him? He owed her his life, and she him hers. They had worked together for so long that love was almost…inevitable. Yet she had not trusted him with that secret. He did not know why. It might have had to due with expressing weakness. It might have had to due with not wanting to be dependant. It might have had to due with her slight disability to except unpleasant truths. It might have been her trying to protect the team from that same unpleasant truth. He could not guess and now he would never know.

He would never know because she had gone into that bar alone. She had put up one hell of a fight given that she only had Mike Franks back up against four men with automatic weapons. She had won and then she had bleed out on the dirty, dusty floor. She had fought alone and she had died alone. He had not been there to protect her, and now he would never get another chance.

She said she had to do what was best for and that she still did. Both parts of the statement were utterly and blatantly false. Leaving him might have been good for her career, but nothing had ever convinced him that it was good for her. Nothing ever would.

The second part was even more untrue. Jenny was a good agent and a good director but she had issues with being objective, and would go to great lengths to protect her people. When the team had been sent out to work on the Chimera Gibbs had over heard a conversation between Jenny and the head of the Chimera's operation.

"I'm going to order my team to search each and every part of that ship to find out what is on it," Jenny had informed Skinner.

"You can't do that," Skinner had agued with her.

"You can't stop me," Jenny had replied before cutting the feed.

There was also that time in Paris all those years ago, when he had been captured. The director of NCIS had told her to get out, and she had essentially told him she was not going anywhere without Gibbs and if she had to bust him out then so be it. She would, and she did.

Then, she had left him in Paris. She had told him that she loved him and then she had left him. He had always assumed that she had just needed to end it to advance her career. That was the story he had always told himself. He did not think he would ever know if had still loved him. All he knew was that he had never stopped loving her. He did not think he ever would.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs walked forward slowly, but steadily. He did not show any outwards signs of hesitation. He never did, and that was the Leroy Jethro Gibbs everyone saw, the hard, tough, battle scarred Gibbs. He had let few people see the soft, gentle, even vulnerable Gibbs. Shannon and Kelly had known that Gibbs, but only one other person ever had. That was this person lying in the coffin right in front of him, his partner, his friend, his lover, his Jenny.

He laid he rose on the coffin, "Good-bye, Jenny."

_**So is it just me or is the last paragraph amazing? I hope you review. Also this is the last chapter with a quote.**_

_**Answer to last chapters is:**_

_**Recoil**_

_**Winners:**_

_**Maybe-I-Should-Write-Something**_

_**Emeilia-Rose**_

_**TomorrowNeverCame**_

_**The Lilac Elf of Lothlorien**_

_**M E Wofford**_

_**BAMACRUSH**_


	8. The Beginning

**This is the final chapter and it is short than I would like but there was no way to make it long without destroying the spirit of the chapter. **

**Spoilers: Judgment Day**

**Disclaimer: If it were mine I would not have written this story in the first place because Jenny would not be dead. Also the last four episodes of season 6 would not have happened, and if they did then Divided Loyalties would be the season 7 opener.**

**So here you go: **

Chapter Eight—The Beginning

Gibbs walked over to where the rest of the team was standing, and the all watched as the priest doing the service walked forward. "Would the family of Jennifer Sheppard please come forward?" Gibbs glanced around, but was not looking for anyone. Jenny did not have family anymore; both her parents had died years ago. She had never married or had any children. The team was the closest thing to family she had.

Ziva and Abby had reached the same conclusion seconds later because Gibbs felt their hands pushing him forward. He was still not sure if he should go, but then Ziva whispered in his ear, "We are as she has got. You coming or not." Gibbs hesitated then nodded and walked forward followed by Ziva leading Tony, Abby tugging McGee, and Ducky.

The priest looked at them funny, but handed Gibbs the shovel anyway. The team watched at the coffin was lowered into the ground then, on the appropriate signal, Gibbs lifted the shovel and put a shovelful of dirt on top of the oak box. It was a closer that he liked and made Jenny's death seem more like a memory than a reality. Gibbs turned and handed the shovel to Ziva who looked surprised but took it.

Her hands were shaking as she put the shovel into the pile of dirt, and she was not sure that she could do it until Tony reached over and placed his hand in the small of her back. That simple gesture gave her the strength she needed. Slowly she moved a pile of dirt from the big pile to the top of the coffin. As the dark specks sprinkled the oak wood, Ziva knew that she was saying an eternal good-bye to yet another friend. Silently she handed the shovel to Tony and stepped back next to Gibbs, a tear running down her cheek.

It hurt Tony to see Ziva so upset. He silently cursed himself for the hundredth time that day. He had failed her. He had failed Jenny. He had failed everyone. The dark earth fell from the shovel and with one last apologetic glance at the wooden box, handed the shovel to McGee, who was standing a little behind him. Then he stepped back and gently took Ziva's hand, trying to tell her things would be ok.

McGee looked down at the oak box in the ground. It reminded him a lot of his director, strong, stubborn, unbending. The only part of it that did not remind him of Jenny was that it was unobtrusive and quite. In his experience, Jenny was neither. He took the shovel Tony had handed him, and dumped some of the dirt on top of the coffin. He squeezed Abby's hand, then handed her the shovel, and stepped into line beside Tony.

Abby already had tears streaming down her cheeks, as she took the shovel from McGee. Up to that point she had been avoiding looking at the box in the ground. 'Stop it,' Abby scolded herself. Jenny would not want her to be crying. Jenny would point out that tears helped nothing. Jenny had never cried, but as a woman director you could not cry. Jenny had given everything to become the director, but she had, in affect, died doing something a field agent would do. Abby lifted a shovelful of dirt and let it fall on top of the coffin now holding Jenny's body. Wiping a few tears from her cheeks, she hand the shovel to Ducky and stepped back with the others.

Ducky took the shovel from Abby and patted her on the shoulder as she stepped back. It hurt him to know that he was burying one of his two best friends, and that friend was a good fifteen years younger than him. He had known that she would never make it to his age, but it hurt nonetheless. He looked down and the oak box and wondered if Jenny had chosen it or if someone else had. Sadly and carefully, he lifted the shovel and let his shovelful of dirt scatter over the top of the polished wood.

They all watched the brown particles fall from the shovel as if it was in slow motion. When of the dark specs had settled they knew undeniably that Jenny was gone. She would never again be there for any of them except as a memory in their mind, which might someday remind them of who they had lost. For the second time that day, Gibbs realized that Jenny was right and that there was a difference between forgiving and forgetting.

Gibbs glanced around and the rest of the team nodded. Together they started to walk towards the car, with there heads down. Suddenly Ziva walked over to Abby and hit play on the CD player she had been holding all day. Jazz music filled the air around them and everyone smiled. Gibbs came up behind the two girls and put one arm around each of their waists. Behind them Ducky, McGee, and Tony fell into step with each other.

It was the end of an era for them. They all knew that, but whenever something ends it is more than just an ending. It is a chance to change, a chance to make things better, and a chance to make amends. Things would be different, and they did not know what was coming, but that is ok. Because every ending is also a beginning.

**Finished. My second completed story. Actually I got my account exactly two months ago Monday and I posted my first story two months ago tomorrow.**

**I don't know if anyone other than me liked that last paragraph. I think it is probably one of those things you hate or you love. I really appreciate every one who has reviewed this story especially Emeilia-Rose who reviewed every single chapter, and TomorrowNeverCame who reviewed almost every chapter. **

**Now Jenny is laid to rest but she was loved because Paris Never Really Ended. And if you don't believe me, this is from Judgment Day Part 1:**

**Jenny: I've made some choices in my life I'm not too proud of.**

**Franks: We all have.**

**Jenny: Even Gibbs?**

**Franks: He let you go.**

**Jenny: No. He didn't fit into my five point plan.**

**Franks: Back to choices. You made your bid.**

**Jenny: What if I don't want to stick with it?**

**Random little spaz there. Sorry. Thanks again to all the people who reviewed and the winners of the cookies from the last chapter are:**

**The Lilac Elf of Lothlorien**

**Jibbs lover**

**BAMACRUSH**

**M E Wofford**

**Emeilia-Rose**

**TomorrowNeverCame**

**debook210**

**With the Answer:**

**Lost and Found**

**Thank you again.**


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